After firing 60,000 shots, the zaryte bow degrades and requires repair before it can be used again. Bob the Smith in Lumbridge can repair the bow at a price of 20,000 coins per percent of charge or two million coins for a full repair, thus pricing each arrow/shot at approximately 33 coins (if using Bob for repairs). Players with an armour stand in their player-owned house can repair the bow themselves for a decreased cost according to their Smithing level (up to a 50% discount for a player with 99 Smithing and utilising the boost provided by a Smithing cape).

Wielding a zaryte bow, or wearing any piece of Torva, Pernix, or Virtus armour, will cause all factions of monsters in the God Wars Dungeon (aside from the monsters in the generals' rooms and Zarosian monsters in the Ancient Prison) to become unaggressive.

When received with CoinShare active, the Zaryte bow will be dropped as 120 zaryte bow shards split evenly among the players and sent directly to their banks. 120 shards can be combined to create this item.

Because all weapons of the same tier deal equal damage (setting aside the 50% increase from two-handed weaponry or dual-wielding, which all the below weapons share), the zaryte bow deals the same damage as the royal crossbow (with royal bolts) and dual-wielded chaotic crossbows (with royal bolts). Thus, if it does not matter whether you use arrows or bolts, any of the three weapons will be equally effective. (To be completely precise, the zaryte bow hits very slightly higher than the royal crossbow when using abilities. This is a very minor difference that comes from rounding in the damage calculation, and can be ignored.)

The royal crossbow is the weapon of choice for many high-level rangers. Because its components only cost 751,173, as opposed to the zaryte bow's 46,200,656, this crossbow is typically the best choice for players who meet the requirements and do not have a lot of money. (The actual forging of the crossbow, it should be noted, is not considered to be easy). Alternatively, players who find themselves dungeoneering frequently may prefer buying the main and off hand chaotic crossbows for 300k tokens which, for many players, could be considered easier than earning the cash for a Zaryte bow or besting the Queen Black Dragon for her intense fire breath.

It does not require ammunition – the bow generates its own arrows – and can be wielded in the God Wars Dungeon for complete protection from all factions outside the boss rooms and Ancient Prison. (although Shard of Zaros has the same functionality) Also, the Zaryte bow will typically last much longer in combat than the royal crossbow and chaotic crossbows. It will last for approximately 50 hours of auto-attacks, compared to only 10 for the royal and chaotic crossbows. If the player is using abilities, the Zaryte bow will only use one of its 60,000 charges per kill. This enables it to last an extremely long time, making it ideal for long trips. Because the Zaryte bow degrades very slowly, it will rarely require recharging. Thus, while it may have a high initial purchase price, it will be cheaper to use in the long run compared to the royal and chaotic crossbows.